CHIPPENHAM Park boss Dave Ferris has rubbished claims by Cheddar manager Jared Greenhalgh that last weekend’s meeting between the two sides should have been called off due to floodlight problems.

Ferris’ men beat their Somerset opponents 2-0 at Hardenhuish Park, the match continuing despite the floodlights behind the northernmost stand failing to turn on in the second period.

Greenhalgh claimed that the officials were unable to see an infringement in the lead up to Ryan Campbell’s opening goal but the Park chief thinks that the match official was right to allow the game to continue.

“The referee asked for the floodlights to come on six or seven minutes into the second half and, despite three attempts to get them on, the lights behind the dugouts weren’t working. But 85 per cent of the pitch was lit up properly and the referee was happy to let the game go on,” said Ferris.

“I spoke to the linesman on my side, which was the ‘shadowy’ area – and I use that term very much in inverted commas – and he had no problems seeing anything that was going on.

“It doesn’t surprise me that the Cheddar manager has complained because it’s only human nature to try to find problems when you’ve lost a game. He was very animated throughout the whole game and the referee spoke to him a number of times.

“Chippenham Town’s ground is certainly a lot better lit than you’d find at most Western League grounds and nobody missed any tackles or any headers over on that side of the pitch either.

“It wasn’t perfect but it was certainly satisfactory and at the end of the day, the referee was perfectly happy for the match to carry on.”

A second-half brace from winger Campbell ensured that Park bounced back from last weekend’s defeat at Almondsbury UWE.

Ferris said: “I think that we could have scored five or six before half-time.

“Mark Robinson has been prolific since he joined us from Warminster but he had one of those days where whatever he connected with didn’t go in.

“But he was still superb with everything else that he did and Ryan Campbell scored two good goals.

“We probably should have won by a lot more but it was good to get the points.”

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